Hong Kong Upgrading Traffic Lights to Project Down on Distracted Texters, Keep Them From Walking Into Cars

As technology evolves , so does companionship , shaping itself around those new advancements . The automobile changed the layout of metropolis ( maybe for the worse ) and television switch family dynamics , but the smartphone promises to shake up thing up even more . In Hong Kong , to hold back distracted telephone users from stepping out into dangerous dealings , the metropolis isexperimenting with redesign traffic lights .

The problem facing Hong Kong , and presumably every city around the earthly concern with a smartphone - carrying population , ishow much of a distraction these devices can be . Even those who choose to keep their devices in a bag or pocket when they step outside ca n’t escape the endless outpouring of notification , which still abstract through thanks to wireless headphones and affiliated smartwatches . It ’s a non - stop distraction , deliberately engineer to be that fashion , and it ’s taking people ’s focus away from more significant things : like heeding traffic light and crossing signal .

As part of a six - month run at four unlike interfering carrefour in Hong Kong , the metropolis has installed dealings light upgrade in the sort of light-emitting diode lamp that picture a undimmed carmine luminance down onto the curb , on either side of a crosswalk , when the do n’t walk signal is well-lighted . Distracted walker staring down at their smartphones , who may not comment they ’re channelise into the street , will be bathed in red light , as will the screen they ’re staring at .

Image:Hong Kong Transport Department

The hope is that the undimmed red light source will be a red sword lily for pedestrians and a reminder to bear tending to a potential approaching hazard . At first , the visual warnings will be hard to ignore , but one of the concerns over this approaching is that humans are very dear at eventually tuning out and ignoring sure stimulus . The audible tones used at many street crossings to assist the visually mar have more or less disappeared into the background noise of a busy city for those who do n’t depend on them , and over time these ruby-red warning Inner Light may be as easy to tune out and brush off as the sound of vehicles race by have become .

The answer also only provides additional warnings at crosswalks , specifically . It ’s all but useless to a distracted pedestrian pace out and jaywalk into the midsection of a fussy street . Despite its restriction , it ’s cash in one’s chips to be a while before smartphones are completely exchange by devices such as augment reality displays that make it easy for user to keep their optic on their surround . Autonomous car that are good at spotting and reacting to fortune like pedestrians are also going to take a while longer to become commonplace , so any safety betterment is a welcome one .

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Image: Hong Kong Transport Department